Melrose Wrestles With First Taste Of Defunding The Police

MELROSE, MA — The city got its first real taste of what the "defunding the police" conversation might look like on a local level.

A fired-up City Council voted Thursday night to deny Mayor Paul Brodeur's request to reallocate $26,000 earmarked for the replacement of 14-year-old police firearms in favor of funding citywide implicit bias training.

The vote was 8-3 in favor of appropriating $195,714.85 in free cash to the police, which included money for the firearms. Councilors Jen Grigoraitis, Leila Migliorelli and Maya Jamaleddine voted against it.

The money had been included in the appropriation only 10 days prior at the request of Brodeur's office to replace the force's .40-caliber firearms with 9mm firearms.

Police Chief Mike Lyle told the City Council the new firearms are much more accurate and, between cheaper ammunition and fewer repairs, would save money over the long term.

The money would have gone to the Department of Human Resources to contract an outside vendor that would "provide the city with training, policy review or recruitment," according to a memo Brodeur sent earlier in the day to city councilors and obtained by Patch.

In the memo, the mayor cited the death of George Floyd and national conversation of defunding the police — which is largely a movement to reallocate police funds to other services to fundamentally change policing.

"Investing in police firearms right now while the City is in the midst of determining how to respond meaningfully to the ongoing systemic barriers Black people and other people of color face would be misguided," the memo reads. "This is not and must not be interpreted as a criticism of our police officers."

To which Councilor Jeff McNaught asked: "How else should we take it?"

>>>Defunding The Police: What It Might Look Like In MA

Brodeur told Patch after the vote that he saw silver linings in defeat: An important conversation has been started, and he saw an appetite among councilors for a real financial investment in solving the issue.

"I was trying to find an opportunity to address a very serious situation regarding racism and an expressed need by everyone that I heard from in the community that implicit bias training needs to be a priority," Brodeur said. "And that's absolutely correct."

Councilors questioned the timing of the request. Councilor Shawn MacMaster said Floyd had died a week before the funds were initially allocated to the firearm replacement. Thursday's request came 10 days later.

"The mayor's memo that was sent to us today does not adequately explain what changed between June 1 and today," MacMaster said.

Brodeur said the free cash conversation is always evolving, and it was not a straight line from buying the guns to putting the purchase off.

MacMaster, who said he supports implicit bias training, was unhappy with where the money was coming from.

"Does anyone really believe that the administration can't find $26,000 anywhere else within the $950,000 of free cash appropriations before us this evening?" he asked.

Brodeur said the data indicated there is a need for new guns, but not an urgent enough one that it couldn't wait a year. The department's previous firearm upgrade replaced 15-year-old weapons.

"If folks choose to believe that it was aimed at the police — probably by choice of words — they're wrong," Brodeur said.

The mayor stressed it was his decision to push for the reallocation, not the chief's. The administration will now try to find money elsewhere for the training.

"The urgency of getting the ball rolling, of making sure that we have some resources, to put a plan in action, once we are thoughtful about what we really need, what should a program really look like," Brodeur said.

Migliorelli said she regrets not having pushed for allocating the funds when Lyle recently presented the department's budget to the City Council. Such training was listed under future considerations, but recent events having changed things, she said.

Migliorelli noted the City Council doesn't get to decide where the money comes from, but the need for bias training was too great to pass up on what the mayor offered. The will of her constituents, she said, was for the training.

"I've made that perfectly clear that we need a greater investment," Migliorelli said. "This was the proposal that was put in front of me."

Councilor Jamaleddine also said the Council shares "the utmost respect and appreciation for the police department."